5G road map for future mobile networks outlined by ITU

By Tereza Pultarova

Published Monday, June 22, 2015

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has established a road map for the development of 5G mobile networks that are expected to fully unleash the potential of the Internet of Things and enable the creation of the tactile Internet.

The IMT 2020 roadmap defines the overall goals, processes and the timeline for developing 5G mobile systems, with the aim to start rolling out the technology in 2020.

The ITU is coordinating the development in collaboration with governments and the global mobile industry.

The name IMT-2020 was chosen to maintain continuity with the ITU’s existing family of global standards for International Mobile Telecommunication systems (IMT-2000 and IMT-Advanced), which serve as the basis for all today’s 3G and 4G mobile systems.

The next step is to establish detailed technical performance requirements for the radio systems to support 5G, taking into account the needs of a wide portfolio of future scenarios and use cases. After this comes the need to specify the evaluation criteria for assessment of candidate radio interface technologies to join the IMT-2020 family.

5G networks will represent a major leap in connectivity. They are expected to increase mobile broadband capacity, as well as cut down latency times to enable real-time, high-definition video streaming and real-time control of Internet of Things applications, including autonomous cars.